The 10 Best Sword Art Online Fights, Ranked
Looking for the best Sword Art Online fights you should know about? We’ll be looking at the most epic duels, daring battles, and nail-bitting fights from the series, and ranking them from good to great. Starting with…
#10 Asuna vs Yuuki
Many consider Mother’s Rosario to be among the best Sword Art Online arcs so far. At its core is a story of heartbreak, suffering, and the meaning of life in a virtual world. On its surface – it’s a buddy flick between two powerful girls.
The impetus that got it going? A duel between Asuna who is searching for her former identity as the Lightning Flash and Yuuki who is searching for meaning in the face of a horrendous tragedy.
It’s not necessarily the highest stakes of all fights, but it’s one jam packed with meaning that you will only fully understand once you finish the entire arc.
#9 Sinon/Kirito vs Death Gun
As an arc, GGO feels like its own thing. The usual cast of characters are largely missing here, but what we get in return is an engaging murder mystery and a brand new character with a ton of baggage – Sinon.
While most will probably point to Kirito’s final fight with Death Gun as this season’s most captivating tango, it’s actually an earlier, more tense fight that stands out to me as the peak of this season’s storytelling.
In this fight, Death Gun’s powers are a total mystery – so much so that even Kirito is afraid of facing him, forcing him to quickly snatch Sinon up and make an escape on the buggy. Chasing him is a Death Gun intent on…well…death riding a white horse that is rapidly gaining speed.
It’s one of the more suspense-filled fights in all of SAO partly because we don’t even think Kirito can save the day if forced to face down the phantom that is Death Gun.
#8 Asuna vs. Mito
Asuna and Mito have a troubled relationship in the Progressive films, and that’s partly because Mito isn’t exactly the bravest, most dependable friend in the world. However, in the films she plays an integral role in helping Asuna become who she is – the incredible Lightning Flash Asuna. This battle is more than just a duel – it’s a vital moment in Asuna’s coming of age story in the virtual world.
#7 Leafa versus the world
Leafa doesn’t get a ton of screen time after the Fairy Dance arc, so it’s nice to see her fighting once again and using her considerable swordsmanship prowess in the War of the Underworld arc.
What’s most enticing (and also terrifying) about this fight is the fact that Leafa essentially has unlimited life regeneration, meaning that she can take a seemingly endless number of fatal attacks without actually dying.
The most hardcore moment is when she takes a Javelin straight through her eye socket, spewing blood everywhere, then just stepping forward and regenerating herself like the goddess she is.
It’s a fitting moment for a character with a lot of heart.
#6 Kirito shows off his new skill
Eventually, Kirito’s insane swordsmanship becomes something of a cliche and we’re no longer surprised by it. Indeed, we’re more just waiting for him to show up and start kicking some serious butt. However, at this point in the Aincrad SAO arc, seeing Kirito show off his considerable power is still something of a novelty, especially when he debutes a new skill that eventually becomes one of his signature moves: dual wielding.
It’s a powerful sword skill that lets him solo a big boss despite it taking almost all of his life to do so. And back in the Aincrad arc, dying in game means dying in real life, showing just how risky Kirito is willing to be to protect the ones he loves.
#5 Kirito vs Eiji
Sometimes the best fights aren’t the biggest. Indeed, what makes this fight so engrossing is the smallness of it. Taking place in very close quarters in the real world, we get to see Kirito in a much more vulnerable state than usual facing off against someone who is his equal at least in sword skills.
Kirito having to duke it out in the real world does not play to his strengths, especially considering he’s not in the best shape after all the hours he’s spent in virtual worlds and not the real one.
While the augmented reality situation doesn’t suit him, he’s able to use the power of his mind just as well as he does in any virtual game, disarming Eiji’s armor and rendering him essentially useless.
It’s a short sequence but one of the best in Sword Art Online to date.
#4 Berculi vs. Gabriel
The animation in this fight is next level, and the best part about it is the incredible back and forth between these two epic fighters. We’ve seen Berculi fight before when he duked it out against Eugeo. But we didn’t get to see the full extent of his powers in that fight. Indeed it almost felt as though he was holding something back.
Here, however, to see Berculi – who is clearly outclassed by the power’s associated with Gabriel’s super account – figure out how to defeat the god-like being using tactical skills and a single hyper powerful technique is nothing short of amazing.
#3 Asuna and Kirito versus the Life Harvester
If you’ve only seen the anime and not read the light novels, you might be totally lost on this fight. This fight occurs in Volume 25 of the Sword Art Online light novels, and it’s against a boss who is essentially the same monster as the Skull Reaper Kirito and company battle on floor number 75. Only here the cintipede appears fully fleshed out and ready to battle.
This is the first fight we’ve seen Kirito and Asuna take part in together as a team since before the Alicization arc, and it’s a fantastic recall to earlier Aincrad days where the two fought in unison. Only here, we feel like their synergy as fighters is greater than ever because of everything the pair have been through together.
It’s moments like these with two human characters face off against terrifying behemoths and somehow manage to win that make us want more and more of this stellar anime series.
#2 Kirito vs. Poh
Following the first part of the Alicization Arc, Kirito is essentially sidelined as the main character, leaving the likes of Asuna and company to figure out how to deal with the Underworld and problems at RATH all by themselves.
This plot device is necessary as Kirito is so powerful dealing with the monsters of the Dark Territories would have been considerably less challenging if we had the Black Swordsman around to help. While this heightens suspense in the show in general, it also heightens anticipation for Kirito’s return to the battle field. And his return is nothing short of stupendous.
Not only does Kirito get his signature Black Swordsman outfit back to duke it out with the strongest member of the Laughing Coffin guild, he unlocks the full power of Eugeo’s Blue Rose Sword, covering the landscape, Poh, and all the dark knights with layers of ice.
#1 Asuna vs. Poh
This is my personal favorite fight, and I actually think they did Asuna slightly dirty in this one – she should have been allowed to finish off Poh. I mean, she essentially did, but then Poh was able to just bring himself back to life by using the dark aura or whatever.
There are several things I particularly like about this fight.
For starters, it’s the first big duel in a long while we’ve seen Asuna handle on her own without Kirito and gang. And she takes on one of the strongest characters in the entire series – a guy named Poh. Poh is a sick puppy who wants to just kill everyone he can, and has a special desire to kill Asuna and Kirito because they were such powerful players in Aincrad.
Additionally, we’ve seen Asuna go through a ton in this arc, from doing everything she can in the real world to protect Kirito, to even launching herself into the Underworld in order to help save the armies, to losing her arm and battling hordes of players and the like. To see her duke it out with this top tier villain after all of that is more than satisfying.
Lastly, I love the way they bring the powerful Mother’s Rosario skill back into the show. This skill was given to Asuna way back in season two, but we’ve only seen her use it once before in the Ordinal Scale movie.
It’s an incredible fight that stands out not only at the top of SAO’s list of best fights but one of the top fights in anime in general.
